1935 ELECTION
The New Deutsche Republik was due to be elected on the night of the 1st of January 1935. All candidates released their intentions for the following 4 years and only 3 won the respective primaries and got enough votes to submit their candidacy as Chancellor of the Republic.
The first was Jorg von Prugner, representative of the Republican Party and Admiral of the Deutsche Marine. The candid and patient man, originally born in the old Prussia, was known for his superstitious ways and rituals. While running for the Republicans, the majority of his supporters were all old Nationalists, still attached to the origins of the Weimar Republik. His plan was entirely made around the importance of the Navy leaving minimal if not any resources to be spent for the public welfare. The biggest reform Jorg pushed through his campaign was the introduction of a military pension for all the retired soldiers of the Great Conquest War and, obviously, for all future generations of soldiers of the army and the navy.
The second was a true born and bred German called Fabian Jentzsch. Fabian was running for the Nationalist Party and was also Oberst of the Deutsche Heer. His ignorant and arrogant personality was something very hard to overcome while presenting himself as a suitable leader and he managed to have a shot and Chancellorship only thanks to the support of the army. With his rival campaigning hard on the military pension and with a Nationalist base to please, Fabian proposed to Nationalize the majority of the private sector on Earth to ensure the government would have had a say on the hiring policies and salaries.
The third candidate was not only a non-German one but was also the first woman ever to be allowed to run for such a prestigious position. Iaraina Konovalova, originally born in Ukraine by a Russian father and Ukrainian mother, was a firm atheist with a warm and agreeable personality. As a member of the Federalist Party, she was counting on the support of the whole federalist wing and part of the trade party as well. With the Federalists leading the polls, Iaraina had a good reason to believe that she could actually make Chancellor in this turn of elections. Her campaign revolved around religions and how much they were holding back humanity. She proposed then to ban any religious form in case she would get elected. While many were still attached to the old ways, the young population, thanks to the discovery of the TN, started to think about the stars and new planets to live, something that many religions weren’t ready to tackle and resulted in the loss of many followers.
In fact, the Germans adopted a Roman way after their world domination, allowing many, if not all the subjugated nations to keep their religions and languages. The only mandatory requirements were that everybody should be also thought German as a second language and the Deutsche Mark as the primary currency. Eventually, while a unique religion would have been much harder to push back, a small fragmented belief would have been possible to clash in a few years only.
By law, 278 Senators were due to direct election by the Republican population. Once elected, the Senators would gather together to elect the Chancellor. The parties were allowed to present a united front in the form of a coalition prior to the election to increase their chances of a win or, eventually, run alone. If no clear winner would emerge after the election, the Chancellor elected would have been in charge of finding a custom majority within the parties to support his or her mandate. To win, a coalition, a party, or a Chancellor’s coalition required the majority of the seats in the Senate.
By the end of the day, results came in:
- FEDERALISTS 58 A good result for the party that probably lost few votes on the religion topic
- PACIFISTS 57 An average performance for a party that could campaign over the horrors of the war
- TRADE 63 Even if not real winners, the Trade Party are the moral winners with many supporters gained
- NATIONALISTS 68 The winners of this elections and favoured by 2 leaders pretty much speaking to the same audience
- MILITARISTS 30 While low in numbers, the Militarist Party can have a say in many of the days to day operations. A good result if we consider the disastrous polls prior to the election.
Despite numbers, the real winner was again absenteeism. Only 26.21% of the eligible voting population decided to turn up for the election for a total of 393.16 million people over the total eligible population of 1,092.11 million.
The new senators proceeded then to the election of the Chancellor. The first round of preferences saw Iaraina Konovalova gaining 44.57% of the preferences with Fabian and Jorg battling for the same pool of votes and ended up with respectively 29.35% and 25.72% of the preferences. As per the constitution, the 3rd candidate would have then been forced to drop his candidacy and allow a final vote to be held between the first and the second. As per custom, Jorg von Purgner decided to windthrow from the run after a brief speech aimed to support his closer political opponent: Fabian Jentzsch.
However, regardless of his speech, not all his supporters decided to follow suit and voted for Iaraina instead. The final results were then 57.61% for the Ukrainian against 42.39% for the German. The Deutsche Republik would have then had its first women and foreign Chancellor.
Elected Chancellor proceeded then to analyze the coalition declaration of the senators. The possible Coalition numbers were as following:
- PACIFISTS 88
- REPUBLICANS 169
- TRADE PARTY 108
- DEMOCRATS 162
- WAR PARTY 59
MAJORITY 139 seatsIt was clear from the beginning that only a Republican or a Democrat coalition would have been possible, however, the only 7 seats of difference could have been an issue. In the end, considering the long Republican tradition and the fact that they had higher numbers made it possible for Iaraina to declare the Republicans as the leading coalition for the Senate. The opposition would have then been composed of 107 seats against the 169 of the leading majority with over 60% of the total seats.
During her settlement speech and as per her prerogative, the Chancellor elected ratified immediately her Religion Ban Legislation which the Senate would have discussed and approved within the first 100 days of the term.
All the matters of the state were already waiting in her office but considering the long and emotional day she just experienced, Chancellor Konovalova decided to go home and get some rest.